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Page 291
"Then I said, 'Dear my dread lord and king, I am sorry for the long delay in replying to your kind letter, but it is owing to no negligence upon my part nor upon the part of your messenger. As you foresaw and wrote to me about, trouble has come upon me because of the long sickness of my late lord and husband. My lands have become infested with bands of outlaws who prey upon my people and upon the merchants from the town. These fiends, lost to all sense of order and reverence, did take your messenger prisoner and hold him to ransom. As soon as this word came to me, I paid to gain his freedom, but by that time it was too late for me to comply with your most considerate and thoughtful offer.'"
"Really, Alinor," Ian protested, almost horrified, although he was laughing. "Do you think he will swallow that?"
"If you think not, it will be altered to your taste, but why not? Is any flattery too gross for this king's taste? As to the words 'considerate and thoughtful'the man he offered me the first time was a decent man. I have not been to court since John has been king. Why should I know that those he mentions this time are not fit to be eaten by worms?"
"Hmmm." Ian was no longer laughing or horrified. There was considerable sense in what Alinor said. "Would I not have told you that they were monsters?"
"Why should you? Why should anyone, now that I am safe from them? What purpose would it accomplish other than to make me hate the king? Unless you were about to turn rebel, and Salisbury's presence here must convince even John that you do not have any such intention, your desire must be to make me think kindly of him. This letter, I hope, will show how well you have succeeded."
"Could I have succeeded, considering what passed between you and the king?"
"On my part, why not? He did me no harm and, for

 
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